{"id":216485,"date":"2025-05-19T10:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=216485"},"modified":"2025-05-19T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T10:40:15","slug":"read-the-following-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/19\/read-the-following-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Read the following sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read the following sentence. Hearing the footsteps of its owner, the cat jumped down from the kitchen countertop. Which word does the participial phrase modify? (1 point)<br>cat<br>owner<br>footsteps<br>countertop<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Correct Answer: cat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sentence provided is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Hearing the footsteps of its owner, the cat jumped down from the kitchen countertop.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To determine which word the <strong>participial phrase<\/strong> modifies, we must understand what a participial phrase is and how it functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a Participial Phrase?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <strong>participial phrase<\/strong> is a group of words that begins with a <strong>present participle<\/strong> (verb ending in -ing) or a <strong>past participle<\/strong> (often ending in -ed, -en, etc.) and acts as an <strong>adjective<\/strong>, describing or modifying a <strong>noun or pronoun<\/strong> in the sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this case, the participial phrase is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hearing the footsteps of its owner<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The participle is <strong>&#8220;Hearing&#8221;<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The phrase describes <strong>who<\/strong> was hearing the footsteps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step-by-Step Analysis:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s look at the full sentence again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Hearing the footsteps of its owner, the cat jumped down from the kitchen countertop.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To find out what noun is being modified by &#8220;Hearing the footsteps of its owner,&#8221; ask:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who was hearing the footsteps?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Was it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the <strong>cat<\/strong>?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the <strong>owner<\/strong>?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the <strong>footsteps<\/strong>?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the <strong>countertop<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clearly, the <strong>cat<\/strong> was the one who heard the footsteps. The cat was <strong>reacting<\/strong> to that sound by jumping down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, the participial phrase &#8220;Hearing the footsteps of its owner&#8221; modifies the noun <strong>&#8220;cat.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Not the Other Options?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Owner<\/strong>: The owner is part of the prepositional phrase &#8220;of its owner&#8221; and is not performing the action.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Footsteps<\/strong>: Footsteps don\u2019t hear things; they are heard.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Countertop<\/strong>: An inanimate object, the countertop cannot hear footsteps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The participial phrase \u201cHearing the footsteps of its owner\u201d functions as an adjective that modifies <strong>\u201ccat,\u201d<\/strong> because the cat is the one performing the action described in the phrase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read the following sentence. Hearing the footsteps of its owner, the cat jumped down from the kitchen countertop. Which word does the participial phrase modify? (1 point)catownerfootstepscountertop The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Correct Answer: cat Explanation: The sentence provided is: Hearing the footsteps of its owner, the cat jumped down from the kitchen countertop. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}